A Moonlit Ocean
by PJO Fan Power
Summary: Persephone Calypso was an anomaly from birth. Born from the essences of the god of the seas, Poseidon, and the goddess of the Moon, Artemis, her godly parents were forced to send her into the mortal world, out of fear that Zeus would kill her. Fourteen years later, Persi comes home from archery practice, not knowing her life is about to change. Fem!Percy! T for swearing.
1. Chapter 1

"She looks so beautiful..." Artemis murmured. A man's voice came from behind her.

"She is your daughter, after all." Artemis turned around with a joking frown.

"You make it sound like I broke my oath, instead of using my essence."

"But the others don't know that, do they? My brother will be upset when he hears of this." The man replied.

"Screw my father. That's why we're letting her grow up in the mortal world, isn't it? And, if worst comes to worst, I will defend you, Poseidon." Artemis told him.

"And I thank you for that. Have you decided on a name yet? I have come up with her middle name."

"Of course. How unprepared do you think I am, my father when Hera asks him why there are rumors of a demigod child of Zeus floating around Olympus?" They both chuckled at that.

"Speaking of demigods, do you know what she shall be since we have used our essences?" Poseidon asked.

"Indeed. She shall remain a simple mortal while she ages normally to eighteen, and then she shall turn into a goddess. There will be nothing my father can do to stop it, lest he kill her when she is a mortal." Artemis told him.

"And what if she joins your hunt? You know she has a chance of being attracted to the Hunt, as she will have an attraction to you."

"I assume she will simply turn into a goddess when she turns eighteen anyway, despite not physically aging. Anyway, what name have you chosen for our daughter? It better not being something stupid, or Chaos help me..." Poseidon chuckled.

"I have chosen Calypso, as she shall be hidden for quite some time. Also, I have a feeling that she shall be just as beautiful as her mother." Artemis blushed, painting her cheeks a golden hue.

"Sometimes, I forget you have had millennia to practice wooing women Poseidon. Anyway, I have chosen the name Persephone for our daughter."

"Persephone Calypso, you shall change the world..." Poseidon whispered, loud enough for the other occupant of the room to hear. Artemis cleared her throat.

"I trust you have arranged a place for her to be hidden in the world?" She asked.

Poseidon broke out of his semi-trance state. "Yes, with a clear-sighted woman named Sally Jackson, in New York. Close enough to the Camp to be able to go there, yet far enough to remain unnoticed by the other gods and goddesses."

"What if she gets hurt while there? You know my brother, always advancing medicine. They will be able to find out her blood has no humanly DNA in it." Artemis asked.

"I can take care of it. If the mortals try to find it, her blood will seem to be the blood of a child of Sally Jackson and a mortal John Doe." Poseidon replied.

"Is this Sally Jackson able to be trusted with the upbringing of out child?" Artemis wondered, unable to be certain if leaving her was the right choice.

"I am sure of it. She is humble, patient, loyal, honest and brave. If my love wasn't already completely given to my true love, this child might've been her's naturally." He replied.

"You aren't regretting anything, are you?" The question seemed simple, but hidden inside was the Moon goddess' fear.

"Never. I swear it on the River Styx." Somehow, the words meant more to her than the lightning that had lit up the sky behind them.

"Good. Because neither do I." Artemis turned to her only child, still only a mere newborn. "You, my daughter, will be watched over wherever the Moon can reach, and wherever there is wilderness untamed." She handed the child to her love, who was ready to flash out.

The last words the father and daughter heard were, "Be safe, my Persephone."

* * *

 **Fourteen Years Later**

"Mom, I'm home!" A girl called out, smiling, as she opened the door to her mom's Manhattan apartment. She had just gotten back from archery practice after school.

The girl was four feet and seven inches tall, very short for a girl her age. She had auburn hair, and pale skin. Her face had a few freckles here and there, with a small mouth and a button nose. Most peculiar were her eyes. They were silver - not gray. Pure, shining silver in the irises, only interrupted with a few flecks of sea green dots, which made the eyes even more amazing.

Her breasts weren't well developed, but she hadn't gone through much of puberty yet. She had a skinny figure, but it was the kind that models craved, not the kind that came from anorexia. Her legs were long when compared to her total height, and the lower half of her body was muscular, as she had always loved swimming and climbing whenever she could. Her arms weren't as muscular, even with archery, because she relied on technique more than power.

"Your mom isn't here, Persi!" Persi's smile faded as she heard the voice. "But since you're here, why don't you grab me a beer?" She heard numerous laughs from up the stairs. It must've been poker night. Persi was now frowning, but responded anyway.

"Sure, Gabe!" She responded, fake cheeriness in her voice. Oh, how she despised Gabe Ugliano. The first two syllables of his last name described him, inside and outside. She rushed up the stairs and ran to the fridge, grabbing a beer can for her stepfather. As she gave it to him and walked past him, he called after her.

"Got any money for me? I'm tired of you doing nothing in this house." Persi didn't point out the fact that she had just done something for him, and passed him the five dollars she had as change from the taxi ride home. As she turned around to go to her room, he smacked her butt. She blushed and a tear fell out of her eyes, unnoticed by the laughing men.

"Why don't you just fuck her already?" Perci heard one of the other men ask, Paul, she thought his name was, as she walked away.

"I would, but she'd tell her mom, that bitch Sally, and then she'd tell the cops. It'd be too suspicious for both of 'em to go missing." Gabe responded. Perci then closed the door to her room.

* * *

 **PoV Change - First Person - Persi**

 _'I hate men...'_ Were the first words I thought when I closed the door. Oh, how I wished my mom was home. _'All men are evil. First, my dad leaves Mom and I, then, Gabe comes along and ruins it even more. I wish Mom had never married that creep.'_ I wished a lot of things. _'Even at school, all the boys leer at me. And the teachers... Their eyes... Whatever is in them, I don't think it's child friendly..._ '

I tried to snap out of negative thinking. I just wanted to be with my Mom, the only good thing in my life. I fell asleep waiting.

* * *

I woke up to the sound of talking, well, more like shouting. I looked at the tiny digital clock at the foot of my bed. It read 1:42 AM in florescent blue lines. I identified the voices. Gabe and... my mom. "-are! She is my daughter!" That was my mom.

"And she does nothing for this household!" Gabe shouted back. I opened the door to my room and walked out.

"What's going on, Mom...?" I asked. Her head snapped towards me.

"Nothing, sweetie. Go back to your room, okay?" I immediately turned around, intent on following her directions.

"Wait!" I froze at Gabe's voice. "Come here." I obediently walked towards the two arguing people. "We are discussing you doing something useful for once, you fucking bitch."

"Don't talk to her like that, Gabe!" My mom shouted at him. He growled at her.

"I will talk to her however the fuck I want, you useless slut!" I gasped.

"Don't yell at my mom!" He whirled around, and all of the sudden, I was on the floor, my cheek stinging and my head ringing. _'He hit me...'_ I thought. Sure, he had hit me before. It was one of his favorite pastimes. But never in front of my mother. I heard my mother's gasp distantly, and then a scream while my vision was blurry.

When it cleared again, I saw my mother on the ground, in a pool of blood. There was a knife through her left arm. _'One of the kitchen knives...'_ I noted dully. Meanwhile, Gabe was staring down at her, unbuckling his pants. As silently as I could, I crept behind him, and grabbed a pan that was in the sink, which Gabe had no doubt left there for my mother to wash.

I twirled around, and jumped as high as I could, then brought the pan down as hard as I could. I waited a few seconds for him to fall... but he never did. He turned around slowly, his eyes wide with anger, and his mouth opening...

And then collapsed like a sack of bricks. I breathed a sigh of relief, then remembered my bleeding mother on the ground. I didn't know basic first aid, so I did what they teach you to do in school: I called 911.

"Hello, this is the 911 emergency dispatch line, thank you for calling." A woman's voice came through the phone.

"I-I need help!" My voice broke. I was crying.

"Alright, I need your name and address, as well as the problem." The woman replied.

"M-my name is Per-Persephone Jackson," I said through sniffles, before rattling off my address to her.

"Alright. And what is the problem?" It was amazing that she seemed calm with a crying girl on the other end of the line.

"M-my stepdad stabbed my mom i-in the arm... and I don't know what to do!" I was close to hysterics.

"Alright. And what is the current state of your stepfather?" She asked.

"He's un... unconscious... I hit him with a frying pan..."

"Alright, do you have anything that can soak up the blood?" She asked me. I looked around wildly before spotting a clean dishtowel.

"Y-yes..." I replied.

"Alright. Wrap it around the wound. Whatever you do, do not touch the knife." I followed her directions. "Now sit still, and wait for the ambulance to come to your apartment. They will be there in about three minutes." Suddenly, I realized I couldn't stay.

"I-I can't..." I told her, my sobs dying down.

"Why not?" She asked.

"I can't stay here anymore. This is all my fault!" My voice started rising toward the end. I put down the phone, ignoring the woman telling me to stay on the line.

I rushed towards my room. If what the woman said was true, I had about two and a half minutes before the ambulance, along with the police, more than likely, arrived. I rushed to my room and grabbed my most valuable possessions. All that I really had were my backpack, which was full of thousands of dollars my mom had set aside for me at birth, which she told me was from my dad, as well as a few golden coins at the bottom that I didn't recognize. The bag held nothing else, so I stuffed it to the brim with clothes and keepsakes. I threw on my silver sweatshirt, and my sea-green necklace, which were my two favorite colors.

Above my bed was a special bow that seemed to shine whenever I had my window open during the night. It was very light, and seemed to always be my size. I had rarely used it though. I also had a special sea-green quiver, which was full of sharp arrows. The arrowheads were made of a material that seemed like bronze, but wasn't quite bronze. Mom had told me it was another gift from my dad. She hadn't told me specifically, but she had said that I would know when to use them. I wasn't certain, but now seemed like a pretty good time. The quiver was also nigh weightless, even though if I plucked out an arrow, it seemed slightly heavy. Done packing, I rushed the front door, and slipped on my combat boots, hooking my sneakers onto by backpack with a carabiner clip. Once again, my silver backpack seemed weightless, even though it was full. I decided not to worry about anything.

I ran out the front door, and started down the stairs, but I could tell I had taken too long. Footsteps were starting to pound up the stairs.

* * *

 **Apollo as a Random Emergency Doctor PoV (Surprising, huh? Literally for anyone who actually reads these, I guess.)**

As my team and I headed up the stairs, I knew I was in for a long night. First, we had been dispatched at around 1:30 AM to go to some apartment in Manhatten, which still had traffic past midnight for some god-forsaken reason. Then, we were told there was an unconscious man, and a heavily bleeding woman in the top it all off, the call had been made by some scared girl who apparently couldn't stay on the line for whatever reason.

In the back of the ambulance, we reviewed the appearance of the girl. The file had her name, height, age, a picture, and a physical description of her. I had to say, she was actually a real cutie. She was fourteen, but only 4'7". She had auburn hair that went down past her neck, and an actually adorable face. With a few freckles, and a small nose and mouth, she reminded me of my sister. But her eyes were simply amazing.

Silver pools of light, with tiny speckles of sea green. I could've sworn that she was exactly what Arty and Uncle P's child would've looked like if they ever had a kid.

But that is never going to happen. Poseidon is married, and my sister is an eternal maiden.

... Right?

Anyway, as we were rushing up the stairs, I bumped into this girl in a silver hoodie. It seemed like she was trying her best not to look suspicious, but she was standing very rigidly, and with my godly vision, I could see blood pooling from the side of her head. Of course, the gentleman I am, I had to say something.

"Did you know that you're bleeding?"

* * *

 **Persi's PoV**

I stared at the paramedic. After a few seconds, I replied, "Did you know you have a job to do?" and tried to walk past him. He grabbed at my hood to stop me, but in the process, simply pulled it off, revealing my bow, quiver, and backpack, as well as my auburn hair. I heard his gasp of surprise, and took that as a sign to start running. I jumped over the railing, ignoring the shouts from above, and dashed into the tree line.

My live in the wild had now begun, and there was no more stopping.


	2. Chapter 2

**Apollo PoV**

I flashed into my sister's camp immediately after my shift ended. The woman was fine, although she would probably need physical therapy after the wound healed.

Instantly, I had dozens of bows pointed at me. Normally, I would pretend to be scared, then flirt with one or two of them, but I was in no mood for jokes. I released a little bit of my godly aura, and it stunned the girls enough to let me keep moving forward.

I stalked over to my sister's tent at the center of the camp, and knocked on the door loudly. A few moments later, it opened. Behind it was my sister, glaring disdainfully at me. "Apollo." She greeted.

"Sister." I responded, then walked inside the tent.

"What are you here for? You have scared my hunters, and also any monsters in a five mile radius." She questioned.

"I want to know if you would swear on the River Styx that you are a virgin." I told her.

She scoffed. "That's what this is all about? Fine. I swear on the River Styx that I am a virgin." Thunder rumbled in the distance.

I raised my eyebrow, waiting for something to happen. I was too certain that I was right to be deflected like this. "Would you swear on the River Styx that you have no children?" She froze for a second, but it was enough.

* * *

 **Artemis PoV**

I paused. I admit it. Probably not the smartest thing to do, but out of all the gods, I never thought it would be my brother who would figure it out. _'Wait.'_ My brain told me. _'We can still get out of this.'_ I agreed.

"I've already told you, brother. I am a virgin. Virgins can not have kids. Considering how many you've taken, I would've assumed you knew this." Hopefully, the counter would be enough to distract him. It wasn't.

"Then swear it, sister. Should be easy enough, right?" He asked. _'Just go away!'_ I yelled inside my head.

"You are getting on my nerves, brother! Leave!" I shouted.

"Simply swear that you have no children, Artemis, and I'll leave." He replied calmly, although his eyes blazed with fury.

"I will not! Leave now, Apollo, before I force you to!"

"Or what? You'll shoot me just like you did Orion?" Oh, the nerve of this _male_!

"You tricked me into doing it!" I growled at him.

"And yet, you felt no guilt. You were glad I did." I faltered.

"Leave me alone, Apollo." I quickly started releasing my godly aura, using a little bit to protect my hunters from the effects.

Instead of being scared, he instead started to release his aura. It was slightly eye-opening to feel how much power my brother had. It simply dwarfed mine. I didn't know what do to, so I released my aura. Immediately, so did he, and the pressure faded. Suddenly, I felt something wet on my face. I touched it, and it occurred to me that I was crying. My brother hugged me.

"I found my niece, Artemis. And I didn't know it. She got away from me. At first, I only had a suspicion, but then I dug into her birth records. Her father didn't exist. His family didn't exist. There was only enough there to fool an innocently searching person. And her supposed mother never went through childbirth. It didn't add up." His voice quieted. "Please, Arty, explain this to me."

"She is my daughter... but not through intercourse. Poseidon and I combined our essences to create a child fourteen and a half years ago... after you pointed out that my hunters were not children, and therefore could not understand the true meaning of family. I... I needed to know if what you meant was true. Unfortunately, my vow got in the way of that, but Poseidon was able to help. He offered his essence to create the child, in return for being recognized as the child's father, and being able to get to know me." I feel his heart break as he realized that he was the root of all of this.

He nodded, seemingly thinking. "Father will find out soon. Your daughter will not be safe. She is technically a mortal right now, is she not?" I nodded. "Send her to Camp. Appear in her dreams, meet her in person, I don't care how. But allow Poseidon to claim her. Best case scenario, Father realizes that he can not beat Poseidon in a war, and then we have a little extra time."

"How do you know all of this...?" I asked, slightly awed.

"God of Prophecies, sister. When you are forced to see everything that has and ever will happen related to your domain, you tend to remember it." I blinked. Then I tried to understand the impact of that statement. "You mean..."

"Every single death due to cancer, every sickness ever, every disease, every famine, the effect of venom and poison, and, well, sunburn, I have felt all of it. I have seen all of it. I have seen what happens to those affected. It's like a giant TV that can't be turned off." I gaped openly at this.

"I never knew..." I started, only to be cut off.

"Of course you didn't, Artemis!" He raised his voice, and I was glad my tent was soundproof. "You never tried to understand! As soon as you got your domains, men tried to hit on you, and I held them off. Yet you hated the entire gender. And, as a male, you hated me too. No matter what I did for you, you were always looking to hate me... So I started giving you reasons to."

"Brother..."

"No. Past twenty years, Naomi Solace, Latricia Lake, Mary Alden, Kara Hein, Darren Knowles, Ellie Soul, Jordan Fletcher, Ashlin Yew. Kids, Will Solace, Sharon Alden, Austin Lake, Morgan Hein, Kayla Knowles, Kaitlyn Soul, Lee Fletcher, Michael Yew. Kayla wants to be in the Olympics, Lee is the head of my cabin. Michael has nightmares at night that I hate him that I can do nothing about. Austin Lake, on track to be one of the best archers in the world. He got one of my godly abilities to heal people. Will Solace is the youngest in my cabin, and yet wants to be the counselor when he's older, so he can protect everyone else. And I can see when they die. I can see how they die. Michael is going to blow himself up to save us, Lee will die protecting his friends. Kayla will join you, and yet die from monsters. Austin will try and heal too much before he finds that it takes a toll on him, and yet save a life anyway, sacrificing his own." He whispered.

He started again. "I remember every single one of them, even if you think I don't. I will give you a month to send her to camp, or else I will." He flashed out, leaving me on my knees, in tears.

* * *

 **Well... damn. Apollo has been carrying some weight, hasn't he? I understand that this chapter is short, but it's sort of a transition chapter.**

 **Out of curiosity, does anyone know how to add a picture to my profile? I drew a decent picture of how I think Persephone should look, but I want you guys to see it. PM me or review if you know how! Thanksies!**

 **(Please keep in mind, that in my stories, I have no beta or spellchecker. There are bound to be a few errors. If you have a question or can point out an error, please tell me! Thank you!)**

 **Until next time, PJO Fan Power.**


	3. Chapter 3

"Can I have a caesar salad, please?" I asked the waiter.

"Sure, kid. Anything else?"

"Just a water, thanks." I smiled. Everyone around here was so nice, and nobody asked any questions as to why a teen was out on their own.

A few minutes later, I was walking out of the store with a small box and water bottle stuffed into my bag. I had been on the run for about four weeks now. Tomorrow would be a month, if my math was correct. I walked to a hollow tree which I had left my bow and quiver behind in, as it would be weird to walk around in public with it.

After retrieving it, I went off into the forest. If I wasn't wrong, I was near Albany right now. It was very confusing. I really had no idea where I was going, though. I figured that I'd find a place to eventually camp, or something, maybe wait until I was eighteen. An orphanage really wasn't an option. I don't know why, but my mind advised me against it.

I was simply wandering, trying to make my way back to Manhattan, and maybe check on my mom, and see how she was doing. I had been training myself to stay on guard, so when I heard a rustling in the trees around me, I immediately put a hand on my bow. _'That sounded suspiciously heavy for a squirrel.'_ I thought. As it turned out, it wasn't a squirrel.

A young woman walked out, and honestly, I thought she was really pretty. She seemed older than me, probably about twenty or so. But all of her beauty seemed... fake. It wasn't that she was wearing too much make up or anything, I just... couldn't tell why I thought she was so pretty. "Hello, there! No need to be so tense. I was just wondering what a young dem-" She cut herself off, forcing a cough that was easy to see through. "A young girl like yourself was doing out in the woods all alone."

"Just... searching. For fun." The lie seemed so blatantly obvious, and I cursed myself for it.

"Where are your parents? They shouldn't leave you unattended."

I decided to make a half truth. My instincts were screaming at me to run, but it was simply a dull throb, so I ignored it. "I don't know where my dad is, but my mom is at home." I didn't mention that home was miles and miles away.

"Why don't you come with me, and I can take you to your mom?' Once again, I ignored my soft instincts, and said yes.

We walked through to woods for about half an hour, and in that time, I noticed a few things. She was leading me deeper into the woods, and talking a lot in an attempt to distract me. She was also limping slightly, and her leg was shiny whenever the light hit it. It looked like my arrowheads. Like bronze... but definitely not normal bronze. I voiced my thoughts.

"Why are you limping?" I asked. She turned around and smiled, but now, I could obviously see it was fake, and my instincts came back full force, not the dulled version from before.

"Cerebral palsy, I've been like this since birth."

"Alright. Now, why are you leading my deeper into the woods is my next question." She seemed surprise, although it was probably surprise at that I had noticed.

"I've no idea what you're talking about. This is leading us straight out to Kingston." She didn't seem to be lying about this.

"Alright, and why is your leg made out of bronze, and yet you still are limping?" She froze, and stiffened.

"You're asking a lot of questions, Persephone Jackson." It was my turn to freeze. I had never told her my name.

"For all of your observation skills, you never noticed that we weren't alone." She snapped her fingers. "Sisters!" Behind me, the leaves started shaking, and three girls walked out. They all seemed to be about the same as the first. The middle one cackled.

"Tonight... we feast on demigoddess flesh!" And they all swarmed me.

* * *

I wish these monsters were like movie villains, who come at you one by one so you can deal with them easily. But nope! Nothing is easy for me. All four of the... whatever they were rushed at me at the same time, but I managed to hop out of the way and pull out my bow and load it with an arrow in a single movement, something I had been working on for a while. I'm glad it paid off.

"Take this!" I shot my first arrow, and it hit true, going straight through the head of one of the monsters, who crumpled to the ground, but dissipated into golden dust before she hit the dirt.

"Alexi!" The monster I had been following screeched. "You will pay for that!"

I smirked. "I don't think I will." I shot another arrow at one of the monsters, but missed by a hair length. Unfortunately, this meant that I had to run again. I scampered up a nearby tree, utilizing my climbing experience. Unfortunately, the closest monster was too fast, and grabbed my leg. Out of pure luck, one of the arrows in my quiver fell out, and landed tip down in the monster's eye, turning it into gold dust.

I looked at the original monster and her "sister" as she called her, and tried to buy myself some time to rest. "Two on one?" I asked. "This doesn't seem so fair." The original one grinned.

"Who said anything about fair?" They both lunged at me, and I reached for my bow, only to find that it wasn't there. It had somehow managed to get hooked on a tree branch when I fell, and I cursed my bad luck. _'So this is how I die?'_ I thought.

As soon as I thought that, though, a bright light shined throughout the clearing. I instinctively covered my eyes. Once the light died down, I opened them again, and gasped. In front of me was the paramedic from a month ago.

I thought I heard him grumble under his breath, "Damn my sister's stubbornness..." Before he sighed, and turned towards me. "You alright, kid?" I was to scared to even considering speaking, so I just nodded my head. He smiled, and then reached towards me. My mind mistook this, and started racing at a hundred miles a minute.

 _'I'm alone, in the woods, with a man who's reaching towards me, smiling. Nobody knows where I am, nobody knows where I am, nobody knows where I am_ _, nobody knows where I am_ _, nobody knows where I am_ _, nobody knows where I am...'_ I repeated over and over in my head. _'Oh god, please don't let this happen!'_ I did the only thing I could. I screamed.

* * *

 **Apollo PoV**

The scream was loud. Really loud. I did my best to not cover my ears in agony, and pulled my hand away. I send a few pulses of calmness at her, trying to get her to calm down. Thankfully, she stopped screaming. "Alright, no touching. Got it. Let me just ask. Are you hurt anywhere?" She shook her head "no".

"Alright. Can I touch you, without you screaming? I promise, I have no intention of harming you in any way." She nodded, and I conjured a blanket and wrapped it around her, resisting the urge to smile when she subconsciously snuggled into its warmth. She seemed to recover the ability to speak.

"Who are you?" Was her first question.

"I am your uncle. Your mom's brother, to be exact." Her eyes widened.

"You know my mom?"

"You ask as if you don't know your mom."

"Sally is nice, and loving, but I share no traits with her, at all."

"Smart, aren't you? No, Sally Jackson isn't your mother. But don't fear, I'll be taking you to meet her soon enough."

"But what's you-"

"Too many questions, but you must be tired. Sleep." I muttered, and instantly she fell asleep. I tried not to acknowledge how adorably cute she looked, and flashed us to my sister's camp.

"Brother." My sister acknowledged. "You gave me a month. I have until the end of the day."

I coughed. "Yeah... about that, i decided to take matters into my own hands."

She whirled around, finally noticing her daughter in my arms. "Apollo! What have you done?" She asked in horror.

"Saved her life, actually, since you're apparently not. There were four _empousa_ surrounding her, and she nearly died. She was in a forest, might I add, so I'm surprised you didn't lift a single finger."

"Godly interference with their children is forbidden, you know that, Apollo."

"Wouldn't it have been worth it, to save your daughter?" Artemis teared up.

"Yes, but there was truly nothing I could do."

"Father knows, by the way. I told him, since you didn't do anything." Her head shot up at me.

"Why hasn't a meeting been called, then?"

"I asked him to wait about half an hour. In fact, that should be over right about... now." As if on cue, a clap of thunder shook the air, summoning the Olympians to Olympus. I stared pointedly at her. "You better be ready, because you have a lot of explaining to do."

* * *

 **And, that's a wrap! Exactly 90 days after the first chapter comes chapter three! I hope you all enjoyed this! This was another late night story, I stayed up for you guys!**

 **Finish Date - July 19th, 1:17 AM**

 **ARE YOU GUYS SHIPPING PERSI/APOLLO, OR DO YOU WANT PERSI TO BECOME A HUNTER?**

 **Content word count - 1,611 words.**

 **Total word count - 1,680 words**


	4. Chapter 4

**I AM SO SO SORRY. I FINALLY GOT A SCHEDULE TOGETHER... AND BOOM! SCHOOL CAME IN LIKE A WRECKING BALL AND SCREWED EVERYTHING UP. FOR THE PAST MONTH AND A HALF OR SO, EVERYTHING HAS BEEN CRAZY AND I AM SORRY. FORGIVE ME. Also, just a shout-out to someone who might just be the most perceptive reviewer I've had so far, nice job DarkWolfz397.**

* * *

"Why have you summoned us, brother? I was just spending time with my darling Kore before she has to go back to that abysmal pit." Demeter asked, looked to her brother, the king of the gods.

Zeus sighed. "It appears that Artemis has some explaining to do." As if on cue, two lights flashed, one gold and one silver. The twin archers went to their respective thrones.

"Father, I ha-" Artemis started to speak, but was cut off by Zeus.

"Hush, Artemis. I am aware that you haven't broken your vow. But that child is an anomaly. That is what this meeting is for."

"What child do you speak of?" Aphrodite asked, apparently interested because, regardless of what others may believe, she loved all children, not just her own.

Artemis sighed. "Poseidon and I combined our essences to create a child." Aphrodite's eyes widened.

"How long ago was this?"

"It was-"

"Fourteen and a half years ago." Poseidon responded to Aphrodite's question, finally getting involved in the conversation. Almost impossible, but Aphrodite seemed serious for once.

"Then that spike, back then, it was you two?"

"Spike in what, Aphrodite? Stop speaking in riddles." Hera growled out.

"Around that time, maybe fifteen years ago or so, I received a major... _boost_ in my domain of love. A couple had found powerful love somewhere."

"Wait, you got stronger?" Was all Zeus got out of it. He was largely ignored.

"It was so powerful that I needed to release it, so... yeah, that was a _large_ baby boom, if you didn't notice. I'd be willing to bet that at least six of you had a kid or two that night." Apollo, Zeus, Athena, Hermes, Ares, and Hephaetsus blushed golden and looked down, while Hera stared at her (once again) unfaithful husband. Zeus recovered and cleared his throat.

"Well, it is clear that this child is too powerful. Something must be done about it."

" _Her_." Artemis interrupted quietly.

"What was that?" Zeus glared at her. Louder, she said,

"I said her. She is my daughter, and her name is Persephone Calypso."

Zeus simply raised an eyebrow. "Anyway, who votes to kill the child? Raise your hand." Zeus, Hera, and Athena raised their hands. Dionysus looked up from his wine magazine.

"Oh, a vote? Huzzah, whatever." He raised his hand and went back to reading. Or at least, until Poseidon growled and shot a blue beam out of his trident, destroying the magazine.

"You will _NOT_ kill my daughter, Zeus. She has done no wrong to you, nor is there anything illegal about her! She is no demigod! She will not be a child of any prophecy!"

Hera blinked, realizing the truth in the Sea God's words. She turned to her husband. "You know, maybe having a niece that you aren't trying to constantly kill would be a good idea. And killing her would start a war, and you remember World War II? Poseidon beat you and Hades by himself." Zeus shushed her.

"You're not supposed to tell everyone I was on the losing side! Either way, I could probably win it." Hera snorted.

"Whatever. How about this? Let this child live, and I _might_ forgive you for cheating on me again." Zeus eyes widened. He turned to the rest of the council.

"My wife has brought up some very good points, so I shall allow" Hermes and Apollo snorted. "this child to live. However, we must still figure out something to do with her."

Aphrodite smiled.

* * *

Artemis and Aphrodite flashed back to the Hunters' Camp together. The Hunters all rushed to greet their patron, but eyed the Goddess of Love warily. Said Goddess walked past them and straight to Artemis' tent, where she could sense a strong power.

"Aphrodite..." Beauty personified turned. "If you hurt her, or corrupt her, I will hunt you down and keep your head on a stake, and then do it again when you reform. Over and over and over. Got it?" Aphrodite just snorted.

"As if you could actually do that. Whatever. I wasn't intending on it, anyway. I just wanted to give her my blessing, first."

Artemis rolled her eyes. "And is that going to make her indebted to you? Because I won't let that happen."

Aphrodite shook her head. "I'm doing this out of the goodness of my heart, which, despite what you may think, does exist. You'd just rather not see it."

* * *

I woke up to one of the most beautiful women she had ever seen smiling down at me. My head felt... really light. As if I had just drunk a two liter bottle of blue cream soda. I said, "Am I dead?'

The woman looked at me. "Of course not, silly. Why would you be?" I blinked.

"You're really pretty. And it seems... natural. Way too pretty to be human. So you must be an angel." I spoke, proud of my "logic". She laughed. It sounded like chimes in the air.

"Not quite." I pouted, making her giggle again. "I'm Aphrodite, Goddess of Love and Beauty."

"Goddess?" I questioned. She sighed.

"Has nobody explained this yet?" I shook my head. "To put it simply, what they mortals call Greek 'Mythology' is actually true. Quite true, in fact, I am one of those figures in the tales and lore. Gods and goddesses sometimes come down to mingle with the mortals and have children."

"You said "they"." I interrupted. "Are you implying I'm a result of one of the times a god or goddess came down?"

"Intelligent, aren't you? But, no. Quite put... you are essentially turning from a demigoddess into a full blown goddess, since you had not one, but two Godly parents."

"Wait... who are my parents? Are they alive? Do they know _I'm_ alive? Why haven't they visited me?" I was bursting with questions previously unasked. For once, I had the means to get answers.

"Yes, they are alive. Yes, they know you're alive. They haven't visited you because of some bullshit rule about Godly parents being unable to see their demigod children, and since you were born in an... unconventional manner, you were born a demigod. As for your parents... the water and the moon." I struggled to remember my knowledge on Greek Myths. My lightheadedness was starting to mess with my concentration.

"Poseidon and... Artemis? That doesn't make sense. Poseidon is married, and Artemis is a virgin goddess, not to mention his niece!"

"You'll come to find that our family is very screwed up. What isn't screwed up, however, is your memory of domains, which is nice. Yes, they are your parents. The moon and water have always been very closely connected, so much so that even your mortal "scientists" figured it out." I blinked.

"Okay... well, what do _you_ want from me?" I asked, getting into less personal territory. She frowned.

"What makes you think I want anything from you?" I snorted.

"You did something for me. As Gabe always said, "Nobody ever does anything for free. You will _always_ pay it back."."

"Well, I have a feeling that you don't particularly like this, Gabe, fellow. So why believe him?"

 _'Because he took a great liking to showing me my exact place in the world every day for years? Buzz off, Aphrodite. You don't know the first thing about me.'_ Her face softened. I stiffened. "You can't... read minds, can you...?" She nodded, and I squeezed my eyes shut. The most beautiful person I had ever met, who actually seemed to care, and now she knew my darkest secret.

I felt my eyelids being gently coaxed open, trying to prevent it and failing, only to settle into heterochromatic eyes, shimmering with teardrops. "It is never, ever your fault what that horrible man did to you. You are not at the bottom of the social chain. Depraved monsters like him are. Those who hurt others for their own gain, _and enjoy it_ , are the single most vile things on this planet."

My eyes now matched hers, flooding with unshed tears. "Go on," she coaxed. "It's okay. Let it out." She hugged me, and I swear, that hug... I felt _loved_ for one of the first times in my life. That thought was the final broken barrier. The tears cascaded down, uninterrupted, with me, the mature girl I am, clinging to the chest of someone who actually cared about me.

We stayed like that for a few minutes. Until the tears stopped.

She asked me, "Can I try something? I'm going to shift, and I want you to tell me what you see." I nodded, slightly unwilling to leave the comfort of Aphrodite's arms, but reluctantly let go. She stepped back and closed her eyes in concentration for a second, before her body shimmered in a soft, golden light. I covered my eyes instinctively, and when I reopened them, Aphrodite looked completely different.

* * *

 **Aphrodite PoV**

Being in this form was incredibly weird. I appeared to others as the manifestation of beauty in their mind, and I truly couldn't gain a form until it was defined by one I wished it to be defined by. I saw her staring slightly upward, at about 5'3, which was about average breast height for a taller-than-average female. I mentally sighed. I had hoped that she might've been someone who saw past beauty, but I hadn't found someone like that in millennia.

Until she said, "Wow, you're kinda... short." My spiritual eyes widened, and I found my body collapsing into a form of about 5'5. I checked my eye level - 5'3 exactly. It was unexpected, but still didn't guarantee perfect results. Maybe she just liked shorter people. Although, 5'5 was still a lot taller than her, even though she had grown about two inches in the last few weeks.

"What does my body look like?" I desperately asked. With my godly hearing, I could hear her jokingly say,

"Not to be vain or anything..." With a small laugh afterwards. She continued. "You're really skinny, although you don't appear to look anorexic. I can't exactly lift up that tube top and check, can I?" She laughed. "You have that lean look of a beach model, and the tan of one, too. Larger than average hips, I'd say. Long, _long_ legs. Very long legs. With muscle too. And your butt looks like you do 80 kilo squats daily." She clapped a hand over her mouth and blushed, looking mortified. I, meanwhile, was too interested in her continuing her definition. She hadn't gotten any red flags yet, although she hadn't gone to the face yet.

"Kilos?" I questioned.

"Sorry... I've always thought that the USA should switch over to the metric system... I'll use customary, though. Sorry..."

She was so worried, I didn't know what to say, other than ask her to continue.

"Your... uh... your..." She didn't know which way she should say them around me. I smiled what I hoped was a calm smile.

"You can call them whatever you prefer." She nodded uncertainly.

"Your... _boobs_ are bigger than mine... probably... a D-Cup? I'm not very good with sizes other than mine..." She mumbled, still blushing.

"And my face?" I asked, hoping with all I could muster, something that might've given Hestia a beacon of notice.

" _Beautiful_..." She muttered, under her breath, then, louder, "Heart-shaped, just as tan as the rest of your body, umm... your eyes are almond shaped, and look like they were carved to fit perfectly into your face. Your irises, I'm sorry, I know this sounds corny, but they seem like a thousand shades of blue, just spread throughout. Your nose is very small, if I have to judge, and your mouth has a perfect bow. No makeup, as far as I can tell. Just natural care..."

I needed one more thing, and this one was the most important. It needed to be perfect. "And... my hair?" She looked me up and down.

"It's light pink, the color of cotton candy, and braided over your shoulder in a fish tail... but the braid is light blue and light green, and it goes down to the top of your... breasts." I nearly cried in relief. For the first time in over two thousand years, someone else saw me as... me. I glowed golden, and my body compressed into into the form she had described.

"Thank you." I told her, close to tears. "Thank you, so, so much."

* * *

 **So, this chapter was hopefully filling, and a promise of more to come...? Just to be clear, I am a male, so I might've been a little awkward writing an interaction between two females, which is something I've never experienced. I APOLOGIZE FOR DEFINING APHRODITE, THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT IS THE "IDEAL BODY FOR WOMEN" OR I'M "PROMOTING MASCULINE SUPERIORITY", BECAUSE I'M NOT. THE REASON FOR DOING THIS WILL BE REVEALED NEXT CHAPTER.**

 **AND, NO! PERSI WILL NOT BE PAIRED WITH APHRODITE. HOWEVER, APHRODITE WILL BE A GOOD FRIEND, AND IS A NECESSARY PLOT DEVICE.**

 **Now that that's out of the way, I hope you enjoyed this, and accept my sincere apologies for waiting so long.**

 **Go ahead and comment who you think Persi should end up with! I just might - MIGHT, include your favorites! Thanksies,**

 **-PJO Fan Power**


	5. Chapter 5

"A pure soul?" I asked, questioning her judgement.

"Yes, the purest. You care not for practicalities, only an honest heart and mind. What you just described was my True Form, and also my natural appearance. I honestly didn't know if you would be pure-hearted, but I had to try. After all, I've been waiting millennia for someone like you to come along." Tears were still leaking out of the Love Goddess's eyes minutes later. I tried not to stand awkwardly.

"So... I'm not going to be forced into a marriage contract or anything, right? That's not the point of this...?" I felt like that was an important question at the moment, and also a chance to ease the awkwardness. It worked. She laughed, once again, the noise like the tinkling of chimes.

"Not in the slightest. However, I would like to be your friend. Although, if necessary, friends-with-benefits." She winked. I just stared at her quizzically. She noticed the stare. "You seriously don't know what that means...? I'll have to corrupt you eventually, but not now. However, I do have an interesting idea that I think you'll want to hear." I leaned forward.

"Oh?" She started.

"Well, I have a daughter who lives in the Village in New York who's about your age. I was thinking that maybe you could explain being a demigod to her, and maybe you could travel to Camp Half-Blood together. Her father knows about it, of course. I try not to leave the mortals uneducated, gives my children a much lower mortality rate than the rest." I nodded. Made sense. Except...

"Two things. One, how am I going to tell her about everything about being a demigod when I don't know anything about being a demigod, and two, what is Camp Half-Blood? Scratch that, just lump that into the first question." I grumbled. All she said was,

"Do you agree?" I thought about it, and nodded. She tapped a finger onto my head, and images and knowledge started flooding it, instantly giving me a headache before I quickly passed out.

* * *

 **Aphrodite PoV**

I walked out of the tent with an unconscious demigod in my arms. Artemis glared at me, her hunters' expressions the same. "What took you so long?" She demanded. I paused, wondering if I should tell her the truth.

"A test." Apparently, that had been the wrong thing to say, because...

"A test?! Out of all of the things that you could've possibly done, you gave my daughter a test?" Apparently, she had forgotten her hunters didn't know yet. "What sort of test was it? Was is some ritual to see if you could bond to her or something? Did you bond to her?" Her voice grew increasingly frantic. I... well, I was highly offended.

"Why does everyone think that I just want concubines? Honestly. I've never taken a concubine. I've barely even cheated on my lovers! Hephaestus doesn't count, I have never, and will never love him, and he doesn't love me other. It was honestly just an attempt by Zeus to control me, which I utterly hate. And all of this trash with Ares... I hate him! All he talks about it war, war, war, war, war! And when he isn't talking about that, he's talking about the best ways to kill various demigods and gods he hates! It's so freaking annoying." I snorted. "No, Artemis. I didn't do anything like that. Honestly, it's amazing how blind you are. If I wasn't the Goddess of Love and Beauty, I would probably be about as much of a virgin as you are." I rethought that last statement. "Well, I'd be staying far, far away from boys, at the very least."

I started preparing to flash out, and without even giving a look over my shoulder, I could tell that Artemis and all of her hunters were probably thinking very hard. Artemis started to talk. "You are such a liar! I can't even belie-" I cut her off.

"I swear on the River Styx that if I wasn't practically required to bed men as a part of my domain, I wouldn't." Thunder rumbled in the background, and, as it was the truth, nothing happened to me. "Also..." I turned around. "Next time you think about threatening me, _Arty_ , I'll remind you just why I'm an Olympian." I put the cheeriness back into my voice. "One last thing before we go... Your daughter is turning out to be quite the beauty. She even called me beautiful, too. I think I'll take some delight in becoming better... _acquainted_ with her." I put the smile back on my face and winked. "Ciao!"

* * *

 **Artemis PoV**

After I dealt with my hunters, all clamoring with betrayal on their faces about how I had a daughter, I retired to my tent, which still smelled of... an ocean breeze? That was not my daughter's scent. I knew that for a fact. She was more of a natural rainwater smell. _'Could this be... Aphrodite's? But... she always smells of perfume...'_ I was forcefully reminded of her words.

 _"I swear on the River Styx..."_ The proof of the truth she spoke. I had accepted so many things as fact over the years. That Apollo was a foolish male who only cared about pleasure, that I was the stronger of us two, that Aphrodite was a slut... Was it really so much to say... _'Was she covering up her scent... her connection to the water?'_

Suddenly, there was a knock at my door. Using my senses, I figured out who was beyond it. "Come in!" I called out, trying to be enthusiastic. It wasn't that I was angry at her, or angry to see her... I just... had a lot on my mind. Zoë Nightshade, my lieutenant for the past few millennia, stepped in.

"Mi' Lady." She bowed, and then walked over. "Would you like to... talk about it?" She spoke perfect English, yet made a habit out of using Elizabethan English to other people, just to have some fun with it, and to see how many idiotic children would ask about "Old English", before she would correct them. Usually, with an arrow to a certain part of their body, just so they could... "Never pass their stupidity on to anyone else."

"No. Yes. I don't know. How do you handle knowing that a person, no, _two people_ you had seen as one way for thousands of years turned out to be the exact opposite of what you thought? One of them your twin brother, no less?" Instantly, I felt guilty, remembering that her entire family had turned on her for being influenced by Heracles during his twelve labors.

"I think you should apologize, Mi' Lady." She spoke softly, running her fingers through my hair as I rested it on her lap. My eyes widened, and then shut tightly.

"I don't-" She cut me off, being the only person able to do so without risking being skewered by an arrow.

"I know you don't apologize to people, Mi' Lady. But... you are quite obviously in the wrong here. Perhaps... an apology is necessary. It might also be a chance to bridge the gaps you've made. It is no coincidence that you are the most human-like Goddess, but you have to remember... you are not perfect. _He_ is a reminder of that." I righted myself quickly.

" **Get** **out**."I hissed. I had been on a hair-trigger for the past few hours, and that was certainly not what I needed to hear. Zoë's eyes widened as she realized that she had overstepped her bounds, but I couldn't bring myself to care.

"Mi' Lady, I'm so sor-"

" **Get out!** " I shouted and turned away, hearing small noises that I assumed was Zoë walking to the door. I started walking towards where my bow was strung up on the wall. I reached out to grab it, my soul flaring with a need to get my anger out on anyone- _anything_. All that was stopped, however, when two slender arms wrapped themselves around my neck, followed by a body.

It took me a second to realize that it was my lieutenant's body wrapped around mine, and three more revelations followed soon after; The noises I had been hearing were her tears hitting the floor, which were now in full service, seeping out of the eyes that, as the second revelation, I realized, after I spun around, were incredibly beautiful. The final revelation was that... Zoë smelled very nice.

"I'm worried for you, Artemis..." She whispered. Hearing her say that, hearing her call me "Artemis" instead of "Mistress" or "Mi' Lady"... it sent me down the other end of the spectrum, and I started crying alongside her. We stayed there, appearing to be two teenage girls, hugging each other, sobbing, for hours.

* * *

 **Third Person PoV**

Of course, Artemis didn't know that she had finally started undoing a curse that the Love Goddess herself had put on her many years ago. "So as you see me, so you will feel love." Artemis, with her newfound respect for Aphrodite, had finally found the ability within herself... to love.

* * *

 **Content Word Count: 1,569 Words.**

 **Total Word Count: 1,673 Words.**

 **Finished: 8:15 PM, 11/13/18.**

 **So... yeah! First, we find out that Apollo had some emotional baggage, and now... Aphrodite has some emotional baggage as well? What is the world coming to?!**

 **Next chapter... you guys get to choose! Do you want some interaction between Persi and Silena, who MIGHT become a ship, some of Poseidon's side of the action, or a mixture of both? Love y'all bunches and bunches (although reviewing might give you a bit more)!**

 **-PJO Fan Power**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hullo, people! This will be the first time I've really done anything like this, but here goes - an entire chapter that doesn't directly feature the main character in the slightest. This'll probably be a shorter-ish chapter, but it'll be something like some insight into some of the gods I'll be changing. While very little of this will be correct according to the myths, I simply love to create backstories for characters. Enjoy!**

* * *

Aphrodite personally felt that she was the most misunderstood Goddess in all of Olympus. She had originally started out as a lost, little girl, the daughter of long-faded Water Primordials. Raised near the ocean breeze by a mortal who hadn't known who she was, the woman had helped her out of the goodness of her heart. That wasn't something that the little six-year-old Aphrodite had seen before in her life, and wouldn't be something that she would be shown often later in her life.

Tiny "Aph" wasn't aware of exactly what she was, either. She did know that she was different. For one, no other girl in the nearby village had the same tri-colored hair as her. In fact, as far as she was aware, nobody had even seen hair like hers. Thus, she made sure to take special care of the bubblegum pink, aquatic blue, and lime green strands, thoroughly lathering and washing them daily, if only for the fact that they made her unique, and she liked being unique.

The woman, Celaena, was as motherly as one could be. She was sometimes jokingly called "Heracles" by the village, meaning Hera's favored one, Hera being the Mother Goddess. This nickname was scarcely used, however, due to the fact that there was a demigod by the same name, and names, as we all know, have power.

Celaena was an inhabitant of the Peloponnese islands, right in the middle of the Mediterranean, southwest of the Greek city-state of Sparta. A major trading island that was more ethically and socially advanced than the mainland of Greece, women had more rights than most places, even rivaling the rights of Egyptian women. Their local government, an oligarchy made up of the richest merchants, were noble men who saw the best in women, a very rare sight for the time.

Celaena herself was a weaver, well known for her amazing dresses. Aph was definitely fitted for the best as she grew up, becoming something of a model as she got bigger and bigger. At sixteen, it was a miracle that she hadn't been married off to one of the many men that traveled to the island due to her beauty. However, Celina stated that she would never do it to her, just as her parents hadn't done so with her.

When she was 18, though, disaster struck. Celaena caught a severe case of hypothermia that nothing could seem to cure, no matter how much heat was poured into the 38-year-old's body. Aph felt like it was her time to finally repay her "mother" for everything that had been done for her. Using her emerging hydrokinetic powers, Aph made her way towards Mt. Olympus to beg the gods to give her something to help the one she loved.

Stories throughout Greece emerged of a young. wild-haired girl making her way throughout the mainland towards the home of the gods.

It took over a week, but Aph finally made it to the throne room of Olympus, clothed in the finest dress that she had ever worn, in what she felt might've been an attempt to appease the gods. However, once she made it into the throne room, it felt as if she had been expected, and that the gods were waiting for her.

"My lords and ladies-" She spoke, but was cut off by the booming voice of the King of the Gods, Zeus.

"We know what you come for, child. We wish to offer you a place on the seats of Olympus, as an Olympian Goddess." Temporarily awestruck, Aph accepted.

* * *

The ceremony took four days and three nights, and there was a party on the fourth night, However, Aphrodite wanted to save her mother as soon as possible. Despite her wishes, she needed to perform her duty as the recipient of the party, and thus, was forced to stay for the night. On the fifth day, she was informed of a method of travel called Frequent Light/Air Speed Haste Travel, otherwise known as Flash Travel. She left for her home immediately, but came back to a somber mood and many glares and tears.

Making her way to the home, she immediately knew that something had gone horribly, horribly wrong. Walking in, her worst fears were confirmed. Celaena was dead. However, the worst part was...

"She died this morning." Aph whirled around to see one of the members of the oligarchy standing in the doorway. "She died while you were off partying on your newfound godhood." Tears were flowing freely down her face by now, yet her cosmetics weren't ruined.

"I was forced to stay." She spoke, despite the fact that she knew it no longer mattered.

"Were you? Were you truly forced to stay? Bound by chain and-" Aph interrupted him.

"Bound by obligation to the gods. Had I left, I would've left without the power to help."

"And yet here you are, as useful as a boat in the winter." Aph was on the floor sobbing by now, her domains of Love and Beauty, the two things that had always held her together, subtly shifting inside of her. She had lost the one whom she loved, and whom had loved her. What good was beauty when your soul, your entire inside had rotted away?

Slowly, her heart built up walls and hid itself away. She became what people expected her to be, and made sure her domains stayed flourishing. Just, not in the way that had been intended. Love was making love, and beauty was appeal and lust. And this suited the Greeks just fine. After all, that's what they were interested in anyway.

So, nobody gave a second thought to the behavior of the goddess, Aphrodite. Pain and sorrow were bottled up for thousands of years in her heart, all the while she was just waiting for the right person to love, the one with a truly pure soul. The second person in existence who wanted Aphrodite for... Aph.

* * *

Apollo had not gone the way that he had wanted to go in life. Instead of being a noble archer who helped out everyone in need, he was seen as a womanizer. His older sister, Artemis, hated him. His mother, Leto, was permanently banished, due to the hatred and jealousy of the supposedly perfect Queen, Hera. Due to his domains, he was forced to suffer in constant agony and be tortured with the knowledge of the future. He was forced to remain a lower-tiered god despite the fact that he was quite possibly one of the strongest gods in existence, due to the incredible power and versatility of the sun and sickness.

His favorite times had been back after he had killed the mighty Python, and he was relaxing with his sister and mother, back when he could still talk to them. That was all shattered when they were summoned to Olympus by their father, Zeus. Of course, they weren't told that they would never see their mother again.

They were given their domains, and almost instantly, his older sister, Artemis, was crowded upon by gods, demigods, and mortals, all vying for a taste of the new blood Olympus had received. Of course, not all men were like this, but this was Artemis' first encounter with any men other than her brother and father. Apollo immediately rushed to the task of defending his sister, but she didn't see that. She couldn't see past the wretchedness of the males she had encountered.

And, so, in under a week, Apollo lost the two people he cared for most, and gained many burdens that he felt he could never share. Luckily, there was one person that could relate to him, even if it was only slightly.

Selene, the former goddess of the moon, who had finally retired. They spent many days together, talking about things that Apollo was genuinely interested in, such as literature and medicine. Over time, Apollo could easily say that he loved her and he meant it.

Until, of course, she faded. It was sudden. One day she was there, and the next, she was not. They knew it was inevitably coming, of course, but not so soon. Using the system of Iris Messaging, he found out that Helios, the former god of the sun, his mentor, had faded as well. He, along with the faded two's sister, Eos, had a small, mortal ceremony called a funeral for the two loved ones.

Apollo was heartbroken, and constantly wracked with the pains of new diseases, and plagued by visions of the future. Things like wars with horrible weapons called guns and bombs. Millions, billions of deaths laid out before him. And he saw it all. And he needed to ease the pain.

Due to the hate-speech his Stepmother Hera had been spreading about him, most of Olympus thought he was a man-whore, despite the fact that he had only laid with Selene. But, knowing that Selene was gone now, with no chance to return, and the fact that she would want him to move on, he gave in to the rumors and lies, let them consume him, rebuild his image and life.

He distracted himself from the pain. Just like the Love Goddess, nobody thought anything was amiss with his behavior. Pain and sorrow were bottled up for thousands of years, all the while he was just waiting for the right person to love, the one who would truly understand him.

* * *

 **Hmm... definitely different. I don't recall ever doing anything even close to this ever before! I kinda wish the Apollo part was longer, but at the same time, I'm also satisfied with it. But Aphrodite's part... woo-wie. That took over an hour to write, and I put quite a bit of emotion into it. No, there's no canon to it, nothing to suggest anything like this ever happened... but this is my story, gosh darn it! I feel like there needs to be an "Aph" in "Aph"rodite! Something to explain, even the slightest bit, her attitude towards Persi. And I might've just wanted to write a backstory for Aph, a tiny... little... hell lotta bit.**

 **A little funny reminder - I don't know what the hell an update schedule is! :P**

 **I really, really, REALLY** **hope you all enjoyed this unconventional chapter, and don't forget to leave a favorite and a review! Thank you my lovelies,**

 **-PJO Fem Power.**

 **Total Word Count: 1,861 Words.**

 **Finished 2:00 AM 1/9/2019**


	7. Chapter 7

**I tried** **writing this with Silena, but it really didn't work. Guess it's time for an OC. Don't worry, she won't be overpowered in the slightest. Maybe. ;)**

* * *

Two weeks had passed since Aphrodite had dropped me off back in the heart of Manhattan. Monsters seemed to be everywhere now, and, according to Aphrodite, this was due to my strong scent as a (current) demigod that knew about their heritage. Funny how that worked. As soon as you realized it, you put everyone else around you in great danger. Almost as if life itself was shaping you for what was to come.

Aphrodite had told me that I was back in New York to help her daughter. However... I still hadn't met this daughter yet. Aphrodite wouldn't tell me anything about her, just that I would know when the time was right. Oh, yeah, apparently she could talk in my head for some reason. She tried to explain it to me... I think. Either that, or she thought I sneezed. I wasn't really paying attention.

Somehow, I had managed to spread out my money for another two weeks, which was incredibly surprising since I thought I was about to run out. Scratch that, I _knew_ I was about to run out before I had gone into that forest. I suspected godly interference, but Aph, as I had taken to calling her (don't ask me where the nickname came from, it just felt right), wasn't saying a thing.

At this point, I was in Central Park, camping out in a tree. Not many monsters wandered through here, due to the open space and many mortals that roamed at all hours of the day. By "camping out", I really mean that I was sitting on a high branch, getting ready to fall asleep. About fifty feet away from the base of "my" tree, a group of mortals was having a campfire.

I really can't figure out why my vision has been getting sharper, but I could spot individual embers if I stared long enough. It was much easier to see the marshmallow on the metal stick that one guy was holding, or the tear in the same guy's white and blue sweatshirt, or the ketchup stain on another man's gray sweatpants. One of the girls said something funny, or at least, she must've, because the whole group starting laughing.

I felt a tear roll down my cheek. I brushed it away. Just because they were doing something different from me didn't mean I wasn't normal. I let out a shaky laugh. But I wasn't normal, was I? I would never be normal. I would never be a college student, I would never grow up, grow old, die... because I was supposed to be a goddess. But what if I didn't want to be a goddess? What if I just wanted to be me... Persi? But was I really ever "just" Persi? This had always been a part of me... and everyone I had ever loved had lied to me about it.

Another tear rolled down my cheek, and I let it fall. I watched as it gathered speed and hurdled in between the branches until it hit the ground, and disappeared. _'How odd...'_ I thought. _'It's there one second, and gone the next... but is it ever truly gone?"_ I remembered hearing somewhere that all of the water on Earth was reused, over and over. I concentrated for a second, and held my hand out. Slowly, I felt out for the moisture of the teardrop. It was salty, just like the sea.

I closed my eyes and... pulled. I couldn't tell where I pulled from, but it certainly wasn't my arm. All of the sudden, the pressure stopped, and I opened my eyes. There, in front of me, seventy feet in the air, was a sphere of water. I cursed and lost my control over it, and the substantially bigger ball fell to the earth. I heard it fall and make a splash, which made the group near the campfire stop what they were doing for a second.

Over the roar of the fire, I heard one guy ask another, "What was that?" The guy thought for a second, and then answered,

"I dunno, probably a fish or something man, don't worry about it." I quickly jumped to another branch, just in case they started to look up. And that's when I saw her.

* * *

Atlantis was in turmoil. That was one way to describe it. Amphitrite was furious, although not as furious as she would've been if he had slept with a mortal. Triton was generally unhappy due to the fact that his father had cheated on his mother, but that was almost entirely outweighed by his happiness at finally having a sister who probably wasn't a sea monster.]

Poseidon couldn't fault his wife and heir, but he didn't believe that he was in the wrong. Currently, he was in the throne room, thinking about what would happen next. He could see his daughter, but couldn't have contact with her. That was one of the Ancient Laws, although we weren't entirely restricted. Zeus had visited his children many times over the years, but they had both suffered for it.

The waters around the world were in utter turmoil, the mortal scientists scrambling to find an explanation for the sudden spring tides, as well as numerous earthquakes. If one had decided to check the internet, they would find countless conspiracy theories dictating the "end of the world", or the "wrath of God".

This, of course, was untrue. Poseidon could hardly be focused on the seas when he was busy thinking about his youngest child, and also the imminent threat on Mt. Olympus. Zeus was being paranoid, as usual, and only the fact that Artemis was the mother of his child stopped him from outright accusing Persephone of theft, and condemning her to die. As it was, he was at least giving her a chance to prove herself.

Instead of thinking, he decided to contact Artemis, in order to discuss the happenings. She, however, did not answer. If only he knew what she was currently doing...

* * *

 **Hahahhahha get prank'd this story is rated T**

* * *

A little girl was running through the trees, no more than eight. Why, you may ask? Perhaps she was playing a game of tag, or hide-and-seek. Alas, that was not the case. She was being chased - she didn't know what by. She was very cute, her daddy had always told her so. He used to tell her stories of her mother, a beautiful woman who had eventually disappeared. He always spoke of her in awe and respect, but never told her her mother's name.

She wove in between the trees of Central Park, making sure not to trip. Of course, when you focus too hard on something, it always seems to happen, and that was the case here. Head over heels she fell, tumbling onto the grass. Behind her, she heard the grass parting for whatever was chasing her. "Finally..." It growled, "I feassst..." Thoughts went through the young girl's mind, thoughts that an eight year old shouldn't have to think.

All of the sudden, there was a thud, and the hissing stopped. With her eyes squeezed shut, the girl wondered... _'Does that mean I'm... dead?'_ Hesitantly, the girl opened her eyes. In front of her was the same place as before, with a little difference in a lack of pressure in the air, and no more hissing or slithering. Instead, in the monster's place was a single arrow, glinting dully in the moonlight.

However, there was a new sound... footsteps. Looking to her side, although it hurt slightly, she could see boots crunching through the grass. The feet walked over to the arrow, picked it up, and brushed it against the bottom of a... dress? It wasn't quite what she would call a dress, for it had no frills or layers, and was a light grey.

Finally, she looked up, and found the person attached to the boots. "Hi there, cutie," the woman knelt down. "my name is Persephone, although you can call me Persi. Your mom sent me to help you." The eight year old looked at her savior, a short girl, and replied,

"You can call me Angela."


	8. Chapter 8

I quickly found myself becoming _very_ attached to Angela. It might've been her bubbly, sweet personality, or maybe just her adorable little face (most likely both), but as we started making our way to Camp, I could feel myself bonding closer and closer with her.

She had been on the run for a month or so before I had found her in Central Park. I hadn't really told her much about myself, which would probably be better in the long run. She had excitedly told me about herself, though. Apparently, she and her father had lived all the way up in Maine - I shivered to myself at the thought of Angela making her way all the way down to New York alone - up until her father disappeared a month ago. She couldn't tell me many details about the day, so I quickly deduced that she had probably seen her father dead, and her memory was suppressing it.

It was when we got to camp that all Hades broke loose. We were less than a mile from the boundary - I could feel it, almost instinctively. Don't ask me how. It started with a few monsters here and there. Logically, there would be more due to the Camp's presence, right? So many demigods, but inaccessible. Made sense to me. Then the numbers started to increase. Four or five here, walking another couple hundred yards, and then another six or seven. The arrows from the quiver from... _my parents_... never seemed to run out. It felt weird saying that. All my life, I had never felt like I had anything, anyone closer than Sally Jackson.

But here were these outrageously powerful beings, claiming to be my parents. Thanks to Aphrodite's information that she had passed to me, I had a slightly easier time believing all of that. But... everyone always wished that their parents were superheroes. That they had magical powers. Or that there was some God above who looked down upon them.

The fact of the matter was... there _were_ gods... but I was quickly discovering that a vast majority of them couldn't give two shits about the mortal world. My own parents had let me live a life of an abused mortal. Me, a to-be goddess! Abused by some mere- Oh Hades, now I'm getting a superiority complex. Such a hypocrite. So lost in my own thoughts that I was, I barely noticed Angela tugging on my sleeve. We hadn't been bothered by monsters in over three minutes, which had to be a new record for the past day. Shaken out of my thoughts, quite literally, I figured out why.

Standing not a hundred yards ahead of us was a enormous figure... It looked as though someone had taken bull cosplay to the next level, with stilts and steroids. Literally, the monster was at least fifteen feet tall, and rippled with muscle.

 _Minotaur._

Rather late, my mind put a name to the ugly face. The Minotaur was wearing a helmet of what looked to be black metal. I made a note to ask someone if monsters were into music later, if I survived this. Quickly, I turned to Angela.

"Okay, Angela... I'm going to need you to be very calm and go and hide in that tree right over there, very quietly." Angela obliged, having learned that I had some bit of experience with this.

"Hey... ugly!" I shouted, quickly gaining the beast's attention. Okay, maybe not _that_ much experience. It looked towards me, and quickly started brushing its foot against the ground. Was it going... to charge?

Another second told me I was right. Quickly, quicker than something its size should have been able to move, the man-bull made his way towards me. My first thought was, _'I've got to get it away from Angela.'_ and the second thought, immediately after, was, _'Shit, I've got to get it away from me!'_

I started sprinting as fast as I could, which was incredibly fast. The Minotaur's eyes following me, and it quickly slowed down. That was something interesting to note, he couldn't turn well. I started pelting him with arrows, but they seemed to have trouble making it through the monster's incredibly thick hide. This kept up for a few rounds until the monster decided to switch up tactics. He ran towards me with its arms out, which I barely ducked under. I leaped back, prepared for him to come charging at me once again. But...

He was sniffing the air. ' _Oh fuck...'_ I thought, ' _Angela!'_ In a panic, I shot three arrows at the same time, which managed to recapture the Minotaur's attention. I started running towards him, and he was clearly confused at this turn of events. His prey was coming to him instead of running away? Wonderful!

But I was running towards him filled with purpose. I remembered the ball of water I had summoned the night I found Angela. Of course, I had worked more with my newfound powers since then. I wasn't doing amazing with them, but I had progress. But it was easier when I didn't have to manually break apart the hydrogen atoms in the air, as well as separate the oxygen atoms, and then combine them together. It was much easier to just get the water from some place that it existed earlier.

Such as the miles of ocean that was just to our side. We had spent the past few hours with it, and I had played with it a bit. The water felt relaxing, playful, childish, even. It reacted beautifully. So, as I raised my arm to my side, you could literally hear the displacement of water as the mass floated towards me. A ball of water, probably a foot and a half in diameter, was zooming towards me at breakneck speeds. I couldn't really cut too much with my limited control over the water, but I didn't need a spear to kill this beast.

The ball wrapped itself around the monster's head, quickly drowning him. He fell to his knees, clutching at his face in an attempt to regain air. I stopped a few feet in front of him, my eyes glowing, illuminating my face, and the surroundings. I pulled my bowstring back, an arrow pointing at the beast's face point-blank. "Fuck off." After a few seconds, all that remained was a single one of the beast's horns. I plucked it from its place on the ground and looped it on my belt.

"Angela?" I called, suddenly worried.

"Persi!" She called, running towards me from her hiding spot, holding a small Celestial Bronze knife in her hand for self-defense. "That was so cool!"

I laughed, suddenly feeling slightly tired due to my display of power. All that remained of the ball was a puddle which swept the golden dust out to sea as it receded towards the coastline.

"Persi?" Angela suddenly asked as we started making our way to the entrance to Camp Half-Blood.

"Mhm?" I responded, unsure of what was on her mind.

"What does 'fuck' mean?" She asked, innocence portrayed perfectly on her face. I groaned.

* * *

 **Lol, I literally just picked this up tonight and went "Alright, I'm getting this done. This has been sitting here for too long. Hope you liked this chapter, including the insight on how battles might change with Persi's powers, as well as the bow. Next chapter will hopefully see**

 **\- Meeting Chiron**

 **\- Claiming by Poseidon *not Artemis***

 **\- Riptide! (Fuck yeah)**

 **\- Grover? Undecided.**

 **\- First quest.**


	9. Chapter 9

The property line was helpfully marked by a tree simply _bursting_ with godly power. I would've had to have been blind to not see it, and even then, it would've been a struggle. I trudged up the hill leading to a simple wooden arch with Angela on my shoulders. _'Camp Half-Blood,'_ I read, the Ancient Greek lexicon coming naturally to my brain. Angela whooped excitedly at the sight of the camp beyond the arch.

"We're finally here!" She shouted excitedly, jiggling around on my back, feeling more and more like a sack of potatoes every second. I groaned at the shifting weight.

"Alright, down you go, Angela," I spoke as I put down my bow and knelt down so she could set her feet on the ground. As if on cue, a loud horn rang out, and I could see movement coming from a large house on the property. "Be careful, get your dagger out. We might have company."

It took a few minutes, but eventually, we came face to face with a group of four people, although none of them were really such. The first of the group was a centaur - a half man, half horse hybrid. Behind him stood two demigods, one male with blond hair, and one female with blonde hair. Siblings, perhaps? The last of the group was lumbering behind the trio, but my instincts screamed at me that he was the most dangerous one out of all of them.

"Greetings, travelers. My name is Chiron, I am the activities director of this Camp," The centaur said. He had a kind, wizened appearance about him, as if he was both your grandfather and your professor rolled into one. His eyes radiated warmth, especially compared to the other ones of the group.

"Hello, I'm Luke," Came the blond haired boy. He looked to be in his late teens, slightly odd for a demigod to make it to such an age.

"Annabeth," The word was short, curt, and clipped. I briefly wondered what I had done to offend the girl, but I put it in the back of my mind.

"And this is Mr. D, the Camp Director," My eyes widened as I quickly dropped into a kneel.

"Lord Dionysus," I knelt my head in respect, and could quite literally feel him gaze a hole into my head.

"Another group of brats, I see," The god said, although the words didn't seem as rude as they should've, as if they lacked venom. I raised my head to see him observing Angela before he turned away, back to the large house that he had come from. "I trust you know how to play pinochle?" I had never heard of pinochle before, but I certainly wasn't about to say that.

"Pay no mind to him, but take care to not use his name too often. Names have power, you know," The centaur had trotted up to me as Dionysus retreated. I nodded my head.

"Understood, sir. I am Persephone Jackson, and that lil' munchkin over there is Angela Amore," The man blinked in response.

"Well, that is quite the pair. The angel of love, and the daughter of broken vows..." He mused. I whipped my head around at him.

"You know?" He chuckled.

"Of course. Mr. D has been mumbling about you since the meeting - I imagine most of the council has." I thought over this for a second. From what Aphrodite had told me, the council was made up of some of the strongest gods and goddesses in existence. However, the meeting part...

"Wait, does that mean-" The director nodded.

"Yes, the gods are aware of you. Zeus has decided not to kill you, thankfully, but you are still on thin ice," he informed me. The whole world seemed to spin - I was this close to being absolutely dead, and I had no idea? It still seemed a bit surreal.

"Persi!" Angela shouted, running over to me from where the two blondes Luke and Annabeth stood. I twirled around to meet her, crouching down. Everything about the girl was infectious.

"Hello, Angela," I smiled.

"They're telling me all about camp! Everything seems really fun!" She told me, smiling back. Next to me, Chiron beckoned the two demigods forth.

"Luke, Annabeth, why don't you two show Persephone and Angela around the camp? Archery is about to start, so I am needed there," He told them. His request seemed more like an order, as Annabeth scowled, but didn't complain.

"Come on, Annie, it'll be fun," I could hear Luke whisper to the girl, making her blush. _'Probably not siblings, then... although the gods_ have _done some weird shit.'_ I thought. After a few seconds, we started to make our way down the other side of the hill, Angela rushing a couple feet in front of us. I hadn't said much, and neither had Annabeth, but Luke was talking pretty often.

"-and over there is the race track. We haven't used that in a while though, too many people kept dying. And over there is the coliseum - personally my favorite place in this camp," Luke informed me. I turned to look at him questioningly. "I'm the sword-fighting instructor," he explained. I nodded, somewhat interested.

I had taken taekwondo when I was younger - before Sally had married Gabe. Then, all of the sudden, it had become too expensive, according to the fat lard. But sparring always remained of interest to me, and it had gotten to the point where nobody dared to pick on me in school out of fear of getting hurt. Perhaps my skills with a staff still remained.

As he kept talking to me, Annabeth seemed to get angrier and angrier. _'A crush... I'll have to deal with that eventually.'_ I knew she was a daughter of Athena, now, thanks to her grey eyes. When she was scorned, I knew she would come back swiftly, revenge in mind. "And here are the cabins." We approached Cabin One, which glimmered with sparks of electricity, and was by far the largest cabin in the camp.

"That's pretty big," I remarked. "There must be a lot of kids in there." Luke laughed slightly awkwardly, while Annabeth flashed crimson. Had I said something wrong?

"There are no kids in there. A while back, the Big Three, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, all swore to have no demigod children due to a prophecy. There was a demigod child of Zeus a few years back, but she, uh... isn't here anymore." Luke's voice trailed off a bit towards the end. Oh. OH. My eyes widened as things clicked into place rather quickly. Fortunately or unfortunately, Angela didn't really understand, so I did my best to just nod and continue on with the tour. Next was Cabin Two, the second biggest cabin of the place, Hera's.

"I assume there's nobody in here, either?" I chuckled a little bit.

"Correct. Hera has stayed loyal to Zeus throughout the years, and as such, has not had any demigod children." Annabeth said something under her breath, but I was unable to hear it. We made our way down the left half of the cabins, which seemed to be the males' side. Cabin Three pulled to me - my father's cabin. However, I knew better than to show anything. Best to leave everyone guessing. Cabin Five was Ares' cabin. The God of War seemed eager to show his bloodlust.

I briefly wondered if his children were bothered by it, but then I caught sight of the group in front of the cabin who were all sharpening their weapons, only pausing to sneer at me as I passed, and quickly let go of the thought.

Apollo's Cabin shone brightly, making it difficult to look at directly. I tried to relate it to the man who had saved me in the forest all those weeks ago, but found myself having trouble. Perhaps the side he had shown me wasn't seen by all, or perhaps it was done to calm me down. I knew not. Hephaestus' Cabin was a small forge, quite literally. Taking a peak inside at the kids working, I briefly wondered where they slept - if they slept, that was. However, a deep lungful of smoke and a coughing fit was more than enough to send me away. I think I even caught Annabeth snickering behind her hand a bit.

The next cabin was Cabin Eleven, where Luke informed me I would be staying until I was claimed. " _If_ you're claimed..." he muttered, seemingly as an afterthought. The cabin was crowded as hell, and I shuddered at spending even a couple weeks in there, never mind years. The last cabin on the males' side was Dionysus', which seemed like the opposite of Hermes' cabin. There didn't seem to be too many people in it, I only saw two kids, or perhaps one _very_ active kid. Based on the parent though, I suspected the former.

"Isn't there another male god?" Angela questioned. Luke and I furrowed our eyebrows, but Annabeth answered, seemingly less hostile towards Angela than me.

"Hades doesn't come up to Olympus very often," She spoke with a slight bit of anger at the mention of the god's name, making me raise my eyebrows while Angela nodded in acceptance. It's odd that the Olympians would be willing to alienate their own brother, one of the strongest gods, but not the most stupid thing I'd heard of them doing by far. We then made our way to the female's portion of the cabins.

Our first stop was Demeter's cabin, which slightly resembled Dionysus' in appearance, but was much more lively. A girl greeted us as the door in farmer's overalls over a faded orange Camp Half-Blood tee. "Hey, Luke," she smiled warmly, her entire appearance seeming comforting, although sweat slicked her forehead. Indeed, the camp seemed to be much warmer than the surrounding area, being the beginning of December. "New campers?" She asked, still smiling. Luke nodded, hugging the girl quickly. They seemed to know each other well.

"Hey, Katie. Yep, Chiron asked us to show them around a bit," he responded, putting a name to the face. I made sure to file that away into my memory. Strangely enough, Annabeth seemed to not get jealous over this. Perhaps because she trusted her more?

Next stop was Athena's Cabin, where Annabeth took over for a moment. "This is the cabin of my mother, Athena. I'm the head councilor for it. We make most of the strategies for battles in our sleep," She laughed a bit. The cabin was surprisingly simple, with only an owl for decoration in the front. However, I could tell it had a bit more on the inside through the windows, but left it at that. If Annabeth didn't like me, I didn't want to test my luck with her brothers and sisters.

Luke took over again, leading us over to Cabin Eight, my mom's cabin. "This is Lady Artemis' cabin. As she is an eternal maiden, she will never have children, but this cabin serves as both respect to her, as well as housing for her Hunters, when they visit." My eyes lit up at the idea of the Hunters visiting, but then dimmed as I realized I didn't know how they would react towards me, seeing as I might seem like a replacement to them.

Cabin Ten was Aphrodite's Cabin. I looked over it, thinking about how the florescent pink made me want to puke. _'Hey, I take offense to that!'_ My eyes widened as a voice spoke in my head again.

 _'Aph? Was that you?'_ I responded, looking around wildly for her. I hadn't been able to talk to her for quite a few days now, and was slightly worried that she had gotten bored of me.

 _'Of course it's me, silly. I'll never get bored of you, you realize that? You're the brightest thing in my life since..."_ She trailed off, but I knew better than to press her. In front of me, Angela ran back from the front of the cabin, her natural attraction to it evident as a daughter of Aphrodite. I snapped out of my mental conversation, and try as I might, couldn't call Aph back. I frowned, but made my way over to the archery field, trailing a few feet behind Luke and Annabeth.

I brightened a bit as I saw Chiron again, as well as my favorite sport being practiced. Somehow, I knew that things would be alright for a bit.

* * *

Dinner came quickly, and Angela was claimed by Aphrodite. I smiled and clapped, along with the rest of the campers. I noticed that some of the clapping from the rest of the Hermes table, where I was sitting, wasn't so enthusiastic, but pushed it to the back of my mind. That wasn't my issue. After sacrificing some of my meal, some being most due to the four gods I was sacrificing to, I sat down to eat the rest of it.

"Why do we sacrifice our food to them?" I asked Luke. "If it's infinite, couldn't we just do that over and over again and make them supernovas or something?" He laughed in response.

"It's not quite infinite, actually. The food comes from the kitchens, although there is a lot of it. Dionysus blessed the goblets personally, though, which is why we can drink anything out of them, and don't sacrifice our drinks. It would be an affront to Dionysus to give his power to other gods," He told me, making me nod in realization. "Why did you sacrifice so much?" Luke asked me as I sat down next to him.

"I sacrificed to a couple different gods," I explained. His eyes narrowed at me, making me suddenly feel like I was in a trap.

"You've met some of them." It wasn't a question. I blushed and looked at my lap slightly.

"Yes," I confirmed. He let out a shaky breath.

"That's... interesting," Was all he said after that. A minute or two of silence went by before we starting talking normally again.

After dinner, we headed to the Amphitheater, a couple rows of seats surrounding a large campfire. When I looked around, it seemed like there were even fewer demigods that I had previously thought - just a bit over a hundred or so. There were marshmallows and sticks being passed around, and after a bit, some singing started. The fire in the middle seemed to dance along to the music, almost as if it was alive.

It was almost like I had a family again, if only for a moment. But then it started to get dark, and campers started to leave. I started making my way down the stairs after Luke, but paused when I noticed something in the fire. I made my way closer, only to find it was a humanoid girl. "Hello?" I spoke, questioningly. The girl turned towards me, her head cocked sideways. "Are you a fire nymph?" I asked.

The girl laughed a little bit, and turned fully towards me. For a split second, I felt an utter wave of hopefulness wash over me, but it disappeared as quickly as it came, leaving me longing for more. She smiled, but her eyes were full of longing. "Not quite, young one. Thank you for talking to me, though. It has been far too long since I've held a normal conversation."

"Are you in charge of this fire?" I asked, interested. She nodded.

"It fluctuates with my mood. Seeing all of you campers happy makes me happy, as well, which is why it is like the flames dance alongside you." I nodded in understanding.

"That's-" All of the sudden, Luke was behind me.

"Hey, Persi, who are you talking to? Are you ready to go back to the cabin? We better be quick, don't want to get caught after curfew." I turned towards him, then back to the fire, about to ask him if he knew who the figure was, only to find that the girl had disappeared.

"No one..." I said, confused, then turned to him. "Alright, I'm ready to go. I'll definitely sneak out after curfew soon, but not on my first night." We both laughed, and he smiled.

"I like the way you think. Who knows, maybe you're a daughter of Hermes?" We both had a quick laugh at that, even if I knew it wasn't true. We made our way to Cabin Eleven, who had been quick to accept me. Just before we went inside, I looked back to the Amphitheater, and was unable to shake the image of how small and lonely the fire looked now.

* * *

 **Oh wow! This chapter just kept on flowing tonight! Went from 500 words to... nearly 3,000?! That's utterly crazy, but I love it. I would've loved to do the quest, but this chapter is about twice as long as the rest already. There was nowhere to really break it up in the middle, so I just kept writing. Unfortunately, no Riptide or Prophecy this chapter, nor any Grover. Grover will not end up being such a big friend to Persi, although he will still be a friend.**

 **I am starting to play on the friendship between Luke and Persi, and I think it will have interesting benefits and changes to the story going forward. It will not be a ship, but still interesting. Expect the story to start picking up from here - the structure has almost entirely been set!**

 **Please, please, pleaseeeeeee review! Nothing excites me more than seeing a review showing up on my phone.**

 **Pleasure writing for you,**

 **PJO Fan Power.**


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